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So i have this question about my DLP television

I got my Samsung 50" DLP set almost two years ago, and I'm finding that the lamp (it's the old style non-LED lamp) is starting to become more and more sensitive to "high" temperatures. I put high in quotes, because it's only 72 degrees Fahrenheit in here, and my TV just shut itself down due to heat while I was reading a webpage.

Yes, I use my television as my monitor for my PC. With that much desktop real estate, I just cannot resist. Gaming is golden on this thing!

My questions are:

- Does this behavior indicate that the lamp is about to die on me?

- Did Samsung ever make LED lamps for their earlier non-LED sets?

- Is the second question even possible?

- Where can I get a lamp that doesn't cost $DOOM?

and finally

- Will viewing pages in reverse color schemes help, or does that reflected light still affect the interior temperature, regardless of whether it hits the screen? Should i mod the TV case, to add in big, powerful fans to evacuate the excess heat? How would I get power to those? Also, is the color of the light hitting the screen representative of its temperature (is blue light "cooler" than red light)?

I love this TV, but damn, its shutting off when it gets "hot" is getting annoying, and I think getting a solution sooner rather than later is a Good Idea.

What say you, PAers? How do I solve this issue? I have gone Googling, but I'd kind of like your input. This is rather important to me, and I want to get the right solution.

And I have no idea if reversed colors would help. I doubt it as most of the heat is just going to be generated by the bulb, not the light bouncing around inside the set.

I can't look at the counter without shutting the TV off and starting it in maint mode, and I want to keep startups/shutdowns to a minimum at this point, so I can't give an exact number, but it's almost certainly beyond the rated lifetime. I use it as my primary monitor, and after having had it thus this long, I just cannot go back to even a 22" monitor. This TV spoiled the shit out of me, and besides, I actually need the real estate when I run Blender.

I figured I couldn't swap in an LED lamp. It really kind of sucks that they didn't take that into consideration, but oh well. Maybe I'll spring for one or two of them when I get my tax return, but damn, I really don't want to spend the money...

Welcome to the downside of DLP/LCoS technology. It sounds like you're really using the hell out of that thing, and if you're finding that you need to swap out the bulb every two years at $200+ a pop, you may find it cheaper in the long run to just buy yourself a modest LCD HDTV for use as a monitor. You can probably find a decent 37" or so that would let you save money overall.

Otherwise, just get used to dropping $200 bi-annually on lamps.

ElJeffe on January 2009

Maddie: "I named my feet. The left one is flip and the right one is flop. Oh, and also I named my flip-flops."

Welcome to the downside of DLP/LCoS technology. It sounds like you're really using the hell out of that thing, and if you're finding that you need to swap out the bulb every two years at $200+ a pop, you may find it cheaper in the long run to just buy yourself a modest LCD HDTV for use as a monitor. You can probably find a decent 37" or so that would let you save money overall.

Otherwise, just get used to dropping $200 bi-annually on lamps.

Not really the downside... I was just stupid enough to buy one that used a lamp instead of an LED array.

I work for USPS, and we use a similar LED array in our DBCS machines, only higher powered. They flicker on and off per letter, and as far as I know, they're rarely replaced.

Of course, that's industrial design, but still. LEDs last longer. Sure wish I could use one.

I'm going to keep this TV, though, because the contrast ratio is more than high enough for me, and I can't even see the individual pixels from where I sit. I know newer TVs are (obviously) better than this one, but hey. I spent the cash, so I'm kind of "stuck" with it for years to come.

And yeah, I'm using the shit out of it. I'm frankly surprised the lamp has lasted as long as it has. I think keeping the power ups/power downs to a minimum has helped with the life of the lamp. It's usually on more than half the day, and actually being used for that- not for background noise, either.

I just altered the brightness and contrast settings. We'll see if that helps or not.

By the way, the TV only seems to shut itself off when I'm viewing pages with a white background. It hasn't ever shut off when I'm in the middle of reading this site, for example.

See if its still under warranty, or if Samsung extended the warranty for your paticular model. My Mits 52" has had the lamp replaced 3 times for free (the last one was because of an extended warranty from a manufacturing defect that caused the lamps to die prematurely). I didnt even know they had extended the warranty because of the issue until I went to purchase another lamp and found it on their site.

bigwah on January 2009

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"Was cursing, in broken english at his team, and at our team. made fun of dead family members and mentioned he had sex with a dog."
"Hope he dies tbh but a ban would do."

If you do some searching you can normally find the bulb for under 130.

I have a 50" DLP myself, and after 3yrs, and a ton of use, the bulb went while I was playing Rockband. The bulb in general came to around 230 from the company, but that was due to the fact that most DLP replacements include the enclosure as well so you don't touch the bulb (oily fingerprint = exploding bulb).

I found a site that sell's just the bulb itself, and I mounted it into the enclosure for 115 shipped. Took 2 days to ge tto me, and I kid you not, 15mins to pull out the existing enclosure, undo 4 screws, mount the new bulb carefully, and put it back in my TV and it was good to go.